GREENBANK School children are getting a whistle-stop tour of the world thanks to one adventurous former pupil.

From the Taj Mahal to the Golden Gate Bridge, Philip Waind is emailing details and pictures of his epic journey back to the classroom.

Phil, 26, formerly of Westfield Road, Cheadle Hulme, gave up his job as a lucrative London-based architect to travel the world with his sweetheart Sonja Gohil.

Now pupils at the independent primary school are receiving a blow-by-blow account of their experiences as Phil emails his mum, teacher Jean Waind.

Every week students email the couple, who met as pupils at Stockport Grammar School, a question about their ten-month travels.

The children clearly revel in their weekly insight into the different cultures and climates of the world.

Emma Vaughan-Parry, nine, said: "It's very interesting. Phil and Sonia make me want to visit all those places."

Enthusiastic eight-year-old William Bindley added: "It's a very good education - far better than the normal books we have."

Form tutor Mrs Waind said: "As a mother I can stay in touch with my son and Sonja as they travel around the world, which is absolutely wonderful. But I can also use their experiences as a teaching aid.

"All the children are just as eager as me to see if we have received a new email and we never know from which exotic location the next ones will arrive."

She is in no doubt of the educational worth of the updates. "The emails touch on all subjects: geography, history, politics and sociology," she added.

"Then because the children are engaged by the experience it develops their computer skills and their English."

Phil and Sonja, who is from Marple Bridge and also a city architect, are currently in India and will travel to the Far East, Australia, New Zealand and America before they return.